Wire-shaping apparatus



Sept. 1, 1925.

V. J. WATRAL WIRE SHAPING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 16, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 1Z 9 m M M n I. A aw an. W 1

WITNBSES Sept. 1, 1925.

V. J. WATRAL WIRP SHAPING APPARATUS ,FiledFe 16. 1925 a Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTOR ATTORNEYS V. J. WATRAL WIRE SHAPING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 16.

Sept. 1, 1925.

'1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 I fl /9:

INVENTOR Vail/1 BY I ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 1, 1925.

UNITED STATES VALENTINE J. WATRAL, OFMASPETH, NEW YORK.

WIRE-SHAPING APPARATUS.

Application filed February 16, 1925. Serial No. 9,520.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, VALENTINE J. VVATRA a citizen of Czechoslovakia, anda resident of the city of New'York, Maspeth, borough of Queens, in thecounty of Queens and State 01'? New Yorlnhave invented a new andImproved VE' TIG'ShZZPlDg Apparatus, of which the followin g is a full,clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to wire-shaping apparatus, an object of theinvention being to provide a manually operated apparatus which willaccurately bend a wire, tape or other metal strip into any desiredshape.

A. further object is to provide an apparatus which performs its workquickly, ac-

curately and without the employment of skilled labor.-

A further object is to provide an apparatus of this character which iscapable of a wide range of modification in the shape imparted to thewire, and which can be manufactured and sold at a reasonably low price.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in certainnovel features of construction and combinations and arrangements ofparts, which will be more fully hereinafter described and pointed out inthe claims In the accompanying drawings- Figure 1 is a plan view showingthe parts in their initialposition;

Figure 2 is'a view in section on the staggered line 2--2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a top plan view showing the parts carrying out a partialbending operation;

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3, showing the parts in positionwith the bending operation completed;

Figure 5 is a sectional elevation on the line 55 of Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary plan view illustrating a modification.

1 represents a base which may be made of relatively heavy'metal so as tobe self-sus taining, or it may be secured to a support in any approvedmanner. The base 1 has a central circular recess 2 in which the baseportion 3 of a die 4 snugly fits. This die 4 projects above the surfaceof the base 1 and also the die base 3 and has a central opening 5registering with an opening 6 in base 1 for the reception of a shortshaft 7, to the upper end of which a manually movable lever 8 is fixedfor carrying in any approved manner, so as to provide a pivotal mountingfor the lever 8 which swings in a horizontal plane above the base 1.

A second manually. operated lever 9 is pivotally connected to a post 10on a sliding adjustable bar 11. This bar 11 is movable in a guide recess12 in base 1 and has a longitudinal slot 13 therein receiving a threadedscrew 14 screwed into the base 1 to clamp the bar 11 at any position ofadjustment. a

A bracket 16 is hingedly connected to one vertical wall of the base 1,as shown at 17 and carries a spring-pressed pin 18 adapted to engagemany of a series of openings 19 in a plate 20 which constitutes aportion of a shaper 22 adj ustably secured to the lever 9. I

This shaper 22 is in the form of a sharppointed block located under thelever 9 and having a threaded stud 23 projecting through a slot 24 inthe lever 9 and secured in place by a nut 25 to allow the shaper 22 tobe adjusted lengthwise of the lever 9.

The spring-pressed pin 18 above referred to is movable in an externalscrew-threaded sleeve 26 screwed into the bracket 16 and clampediat anydesired position of adjustment by a nut 27. A head 28 is provided on theouter end of the sleeve 26 to faciltate its manipulation, and the innerend of said pin 1.8, which is contracted in'diameter, is provided with atransversely extending cross pin 29 projecting through the slotted sidesof the bracket 16 to allow the pin to be manually withdrawn fromengagement with one of the openings 19 of plate 20.

The lever 8 above referred to is provided with an adjustable stopmember30 which extends transversely of the lever 8 and is adapted to engagethe lever 9, as shown in Figure '4, when the bending operation iscompleted. This stop member 30 has a slot 31 therein through. which ascrew or bolt projects and is screwed into the lever 8 to hold the stopmember at the desired position of adjustment.

The lever 8 also carries a shaping member 33 which has a threaded stud34 thereon projecting through a longitudinal slot 35 in lever 8 andsecured at any desired position of adjustment by a nut 36.

On the base portion '3 of die 4 a fixed shaping member 37 is located andspaced fromthe side of the die 4 a distance substantially equal to thethickness of the wire 38 to bebent. On the upper face of the base 1 andon the upper face of the base 3 of die 4 a linear scale 39 is provided,the zero end of said scale registering with the corner or edge of thefixed shaping member 37. A set screw 40 is adjustably mounted in thebase 1 and bears against the base 3 of die 4: so as to clamp the latteragainst movement but allow the same to be removed and replaced by othershapes of die members, one of which is illustrated in the m0dificationshown in Figure 6.

The shape of this modified form of die member 41 is less than a circlebut in other respects its structure is the same as that above described.It is of course to be understood that the shape of the die members andshaping members can be varied in accordance with the shape to beimparted to the wire.

The operation of the construction above described is as follows:

The wire 38 is placed in the position shown in Figure 1 with the levers8 and 9 out of the path of the wire. The wire 38 is moved along thescale 39 so as to project the end thereof the desired distance from theshaper 37. The lever 8 is then swung to the position shown in Figure 3,its shaper 33 engaging the wire 38 and bending it against the face ofshaper 37. The lever 9 is then swung on its pivot 10 to the positionshown in Figure 3, the shaper 22 of said lever 9 forcing the wire 38around the outer face of die 4 and hold ing the same in this position.lVhile the lever 9 is thus held the hinged bracket 16 is swung over theupper face of base 1 and its spring-pressed pin 18 engages in one of theopenings 19 of plate 20 carried by the lever 9, the enlarged end 28 ofsleeve 26 acting as a stop or abutment to prevent retrograde movement ofthe lever 9. The lever 8 is-then swung toward the lever 9 until theshaper 33 engages the wire 38 and bends the same against the shaper 22of lever 9, completing the bending operation, as shown in Figure 4c. Theparts may then be turned to initial position and the bending operationrepeated, or another die, such as indicated in Figure 6, may replace thedie 4 and the wire given an opposite bend or curvature, and, in fact,any shape may be imparted to the wire in accordance with the shape ofthe dies and the bending members by the simple manipulation of the wireand the levers, as above explained.

Various slight changes and alteration might be made in the general formof the parts described without departing from my invention, and hence Ido not limit myself to the precise details set forth but consider myselfat liberty to make such slight changes and alterations as fairly fallwithin the spirit and scope of the appended claims,

I claim: I

1. A wire shaping apparatus, including a base having a recess in itsupper face, a removable die having a base portion secured in saidrecess, a fixed shaping member on the base portion of the die, said baseand base portion of the die having a registering linear scale extendingfrom the fixed shaping member, a lever pivotally mounted centrally ofthe die, a second lever pivotally mounted on the base, wire engagingshaping members on said levers, an adjustable stop member on one leveradapted to engage the other and limit the movement of one lever towardthe other, and means for holding one of said levers against retrogrademovement.

2. A wire shaping apparatus, including a base having a recess in itsupper face, a.

removable die having a base portion secured in said recess, a fixedshaping member on the base portion of the die, said base and baseportion of the die having a registering linear scale extending from thefixed shaping member, a lever pivotally mounted centrally of the die, asecond lever pivotally mounted on the base, wire engaging shapingmembers on said levers, a bracket hingedly connected to the base, aspring-pressed pin in said bracket, a shaping member adjustably securedto the last mentioned lever, a plate on said shaping member havingopenings therein to receive the pin whereby said lever is held againstretrograde movement, and a shaping member on said first-mentioned leveradapted to press the wire first against the fixed shaping member andthen against the shaping member of the second-mentioned lever.

3. A wire-shaping apparatus, including a base having a recess in itsupper face, a removable die having a base portion secured in saidrecess, a fixedshaping member on the base portion of the die, said baseand base portion of the die having a registering linear scale extendingfrom the fixed shaping member, a lever pivotally mounted centrally ofthe die, a second lever pivotally mounted on the base, wire engagingshaping members on said levers, a bracket hingedly connected to thebase, a spring-pressed pin in said bracket, a shaping member adjustablysecured to the last-mentioned lever, a plate on said shaping memberhaving openings therein to receive the pin whereby said lever is heldagainst retrograde movement, a shaping member on said firstmentionedlever adapted to press the wire first against the fixed shaping memberand then against the shaping member of the second-mentioned lever, andan adjustable bar secured to the base and providing pivptal mounting forthe second-mentioned ever.

VALENTINE J. WATRAL-

